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SPEECH 

OF 

HON. M. HAHN 

OF LOUISIANA, 

ON 

THE LOUISIANA ELECTION. 


DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 11 , 1863. 


Mr. Speaker : The desire expressed by many members of the House that I 
thould say a few words on the subject which now engages your attention, al¬ 
though quite flattering to my feelings* is ope with which I comply with ex¬ 
treme reiuctance; for at the commencement of my discourse I am forcibly 
admonished of my unfortunate position by the familiar maxim that “ he who 
pleads his own cause has a fool for his client,” But, sir, I am emboldened to 
say a few words on this subject, from the conviction that, in maintaining the 
rights of my colleague and myself to seats in this House, I am advocating no 
personal interest. I am* indeed, not arguing my own cause. I am arguing the 
cause of the loyal people of the State of Louisiana—nay, sir, of the people of 
the whole of this great and glorious Union. I am maintaining the principle 
which lies at the very foundation of this Government—a principle without 
which this Government would cease to be a republic—the principle of the right 
of representation of the people on the floor of this House. 

Mr. Speaker, my remarks will be considerably shortened by the able and ac¬ 
curate manner in which the Committee of Elections has presented all the facts 
and the law of this case to the House, and by the able and .eloquent manner in 
which some of the important legal principles involved have been argued by 
members, and particularly by the distinguished member from Massachusetts 
[Mr. Thomas] yesterday. 

I shall be brief in what I have to say. I shall deal in facts, not in figures of 
speech—in blunt, unfinished sentences, not in any attempts at oratorical dis¬ 
play. And I will esteem it a favor, rather than a disagreeable interruption, if, 
during the delivery of my few remarks, any gentleman upon this floor will call 
my attention to any particular subject or point on which he has doubts; for I 
feel satisfied, from the intercourse I have had with the members of the House, 
that there is no man here who would interrupt me with a view of embarrassing 
me, but simply with a view of obtaining such information, as he may think 
necessary in coming to a correct conclusion upou the subject under considera¬ 
tion. I shall- * 

Mr. Dunn. After the invitation of the gentleman, I take, the liberty of call- 
ingrhis attention to a matter which, I think, is of great importance in the de¬ 
cision of this question. I wish to be informed whether or not the loyal people 
in the district he represents voted fully at the polls ? In. other words, I wish to 
know whether he is in fact substantially the representative of the constituency 
he claims to represent? 

Mr. Hahn. When a gentleman upon the floor of this House, the other day, 
staged that he had always understood that New Orleans was a hot-bed of rebel¬ 
lion and secession, he did not state it as a fact within his own personal knowl¬ 
edge, but simply as a matter which he had understood.. 

Now, sir, it must strike the mind of every intelligent gentlemau at once, that 
the very important geographical position of New Orleans* in a military; and 
naval point of view, very soon engaged the serious attention of the rebels en- 





2 


EIlS 10 
15 

gaged in the establishment of a southern confederacy. Their navy and army 
officers and soldiers and gunboats were there massed and attracted in large 
numbers. The prominent leaders of the rebellion were sent there, and that 
point was made a focus of their operations, it being of so much importance to 
them in holding the mouth of the great Mississippi river. 

But, sir, the large majority of the people of New Orleaus and of southern 
Louisiana—the permanent inhabitants and citizens there—have never volun- 
tarily done anything that could in the least taint them with disloyalty. Their 
1 conduct from the beginning and throughout this rebellion will sustain the truth 
of my assertion. Why, sir, look at the vote of the last presidential election. 
If you will examine the vote cast i n those two congressional districts, and add 
that given for Bell to that cast for Douglas, you will and that their aggregate 
vote is an astonishingly large and overwhelming majority of the entire vote cast. 
These, it will be remembered, are the two southern districts of Louisiana, in 
which there are but few cotton plantations. The northern is the cotton portion 
of the State, where some of the people imagine that “cotton is king;” but in 
the first and second congressional districts the culture of sugar and of vegeta¬ 
bles is the exclusive occupation of the agriculturists. And those people have 
always, in every election, and under the most trying circumstances, shown their 
fidelity to this Government. 

There was an election called in the State of Louisiana for a convention, the 
object of which was not exactly stated to the public. It was ostensibly a con¬ 
vention called to take into consideration the state of public affairs. By the act 
of our Legislature, approved December 12, 1860, the election was ordered to 
take place on the 7th of January, 1861, for delegates to a State convention to 
be held oh the 23d of January, 1861. (See act of the special session, No. 5.) 
The act of the Legislature says not one word about secession, or even the alter¬ 
ing the constitution; and the only approach to a declaration of the objects of 
the convention must be gathered from the preamble, which is in these words: 

“Whereas in |he opinion of the General Assembly the condition of public affairs de¬ 
mands that a convention of the people be called to take such action as the interest and 
welfare of the State may require : therefore,” Ac. 

This vague and unsatisfactory declaration is the only one found in the act as 
to the object of the convention. Could good citizens draw any reasonable con¬ 
clusion from this language that this convention, called in this manner, would 
have any moral right—it certainly had no constitutional power—to change the 
nationality of the State, and to make an attempt, even by revolution, to with¬ 
draw the State from the Federal Union ? They might reasonably suppose that 
under the language employed in the preamble, resolutions would be offered and 
discussed, adopted or rejected, suggesting compromise measures or amendments 
to the Federal Constitution. Hence the people might not have taken so deep 
and active an interest in the election of delegates as they otherwise would have 
done. The election was held, and the convention assembled at the appointed 
time. Some of the delegates, in their canvass, had caught the contagion of 
neighboring States, and announced secession views; others, especially in my 
congressional district, had taken ground for the Union. 

In the meantime, and before the assembling of the convention, and even be¬ 
fore the names and political complexion of the successful candidates could be 
ascertained, the Governor took possession of the national forts, arsenals, and 
munitions of war in the State, and had a force of his “ State troops,” as he 
called them, within sight of the capitol at the time the convention assembled. 

The convention on the 26th of January, 1861, (three days after its organiza- 
tion,) passed “ an ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Louisi¬ 
ana and other States united with her under the compact entitled 4 The Consti¬ 
tution of the United States of America.* ” This ordinance is, of course, uncon¬ 
stitutional and void; it was a revolutionary measure of those who approved it, 
depending for its validity entirely upon the chances and results of war. The 
people of Louisiana were not bound by it in any manner, either constitution- 


3 

ally or morally, as the convention did not condescend to submit its work to the 
vote of the people for ratification or rejection. Indeed, the people of Louis* 
iana have never had a chance afforded them to vote upon the question of se¬ 
cession. 

Thus it was that the convention took upon itself the power and task of 
carrying Louisiana out of the Union. The men who were elected t the con¬ 
vention from the first and second congressional districts of Louisiana were 
mostly out and out, unconditional Union men. But, sir, through the instru¬ 
mentality of the rebel Governor, by his wicked acts and doings in seizing the 
forts and barracks and other public property of the United States before the 
meeting of the convention; by his instrumentality in surrounding the capital 
of the State with the armed forces of the rebels, and keeping them in the very 
sight of the building where the delegates met; by the instrumentality of such 
men as Benjamin and Slidell, and other rebels of note, an ordinance of seces¬ 
sion, as 1 have stated, was forced through the convention. But, sir, they did 
not dare to submit their wicked work—the ordinance of secession—to the vote 
of the people of Louisiana. The constitution of the State requires that even 
the most unimportant amendments or alterations thereto shall be agreed to 
by two thirds of the members of each House of our Legislature, and, after con¬ 
siderable delay and full publication, shall be submitted to the people for ap¬ 
proval and ratification, before the same shall become a part of the constitution. 
And yet some people seem to insist that this ordinance of secession thus adopted 
by this convention, in violation of their plainest duties, moral, legal, and consti¬ 
tutional—in the face of this solemn constitutional enactment of tjie people- 
sought to change the nationality of the State, without even asking the people— 
the great source and giver of all political power—whether it suited them 
or not! 

The Governor and other officers of the State may abandon it, but the people 
of that State will cling to the Union as they have always done, and will con¬ 
tinue to do, until all hope from the loyal portion of this Union has gone, and 
you refuse absolutely to have us in the Union. 

Mr. Speaker, the question of the loyalty of our districts can admit of no 
doubt, if gentlemen will familiarize themselves with the doings of this people. 
It is a notorions fact that the jails of New Orleans were crowded with the 
loyal citizens of Louisiana who refused to approve the treasonable doings and 
submit to the authority of the rebel government. It is a notorious fact that 
many of our loyal citizens were ruthlessly driven from their homes and families 
and sent to the North; and there are some now in the galleries of this House, 
honoring me as their Representative with their attention, who for their love of 
this Union are refugees and exiles from the State of Louisiana. My own col¬ 
league, for his patriotism and tlje philanthropic motives which induced him to 
visit the parish prison in the city of New Orleans for the purpose of furnishing 
the Union prisoners brought there from the battle-field of Bull Run, with 
blankets and clothing, was torn from his home, from an interesting family, con¬ 
veyed first to Tennessee, and then sent North. 

Such are some of the persecutions which Union men in Southern Louisiana 
were compelled to bear. Are you not all familiar with the official despatches 
of Commodore Farragut to the Government in Washington, in which he states 
that when his vessels came up the Mississippi river and landed in front of the 
city of New Orleans, the women and children, the crowd of citizens assembled 
on the levee of that great city, shouted and threw up their hands with joy and 
delight at beholding again the old flag, and that ruffian Confederate soldiers 
who had not ) et abandoned the city fired upon those women and children from 
the rear ? 

Ask me whether the people of that State are loyal ? The moment that Gen¬ 
eral Butler entered the city, the people, with a rapidity which was as commend¬ 
able as anything in the American character, came forward and gave proof of 
their fidelity to their Government by renewing their allegiance by solemn oath, 


4 


which was not forced upon them—an oath which they took voluntarily; and 
they immediately formed Union associations for the purpose of developing the 
Union sentiment of that city and neighborhood ; and they, the citizens, with 
their own patriotic hands, hoisted the American flag on the City Hall. And, 
sir, on the 3d of December last, eight thousand good and loyal citizens of the 
first and second congressional districts, boldly, manfully, and patriotically, 
against the threats of secessionists, came up in broad daylight to the polls and 
sent their Representatives to your Congress. 

I say that this people are loyal, and that nothing can he traced to them 
Which affords good proof of disloyalty. Men have, no doubt, been there from 
Richmond, or thereabouts, who have made a grand show of loyalty to the Con¬ 
federate government ; but, sir, they were not the'people of my district ; they 
were not the people of Louisiana; and they had no right to represent, in any 
form or shape, the sentiments of the people of that State. 

Now, a great deal has been said here about the registry laws applying to the 
city of New Orleans. The distinguished gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. Bing¬ 
ham,] the other day, referred to one clause in the registry law which provided 
that a man should not be registered unless he had taken an oath of allegiance 
t<* the confederate States. 

In the year 1856 the Legislature of Louisiana passed a law providing, in 
order that there should be no difficulty at the polls on election day as to a 
man’s right to Vote, and to prevent frauds, &c,, that he should go, previous to 
the election day; and have his name registered, upon presenting the proper 
evidence of his qualifications as a voter. Copies of this registration list were to 
be distributed at all the voting places in the city on the day of election, so that 
when a man presented himself to vote whose name was on the registry list, the 
commissioners of elections should consider him as qualified and entitled to vote, 
and no question could be raised or discussion take place as to his right. 

Mr. Bingham. Will the gentleman from Louisiana do me the favor to in¬ 
form me whether the registry law of 1856, to which he refers, was a general 
law ? 

Mr. Hahn. It only refers to the city of New Orleans. There is no registry 
law outside of that city. It provides only for the city of New Orleans, in ac¬ 
cordance with a constitutional direction to the Legislature; but in 1861 a rebel 
Legislature, under the dictation of the Governor, passed an act destroying this 
former loyal registry, and providing that thereafter no man should be registered 
unless he would take the oath of allegiance to the confederate States. That, 
I say, was unconstitutional. That act was null and void, and no loyal man of 
the city of New Orleans caused himself to be registered under that act. I do 
not believe that any election was held under that act. When the American 
flag was again supreme in New Orleans, and the people began to discuss the 
question of representation in the United Statls Congress, a new registry was 
adopted under the first act of 1856, whicli was a loyal and constitutional act. 

Mr. Wickliffe. I ask the gentleman to inform me of one fact. .1 am labor¬ 
ing under the impression, though you have a registry act to govern the election 
in the city of New Orleans, yet that if a qualified voter, known to be such, 
failed to be registered, he would be allowed to vote. 

Mr. Hahn. He was not according to that law a voter unless the registry 
showed that he had been registered. No matter, however, whether his name 
was subsequently omitted on the copies of the registry furnished at the polls, 
he was entitled to vote if he produced a certificate that he had ev^r been regis¬ 
tered, and shown his right as a citizen. The report of the committee quotes 
the law. 

This original and loyal registry was done away with by the rebel legislature. 
We commenced another on which none but loyal citizens of the United States 
and of the city of New Orleans should be registered. Under that registry this 
election was held. It has been said by the eloquent gentleman from Indiana 
[Mr. Yoorhees] that the first knowledge he had of a desire to hold this elec- 


5 

tion was the proclamation of the military Governor of Louisiana; thus implying 
that the people did not first move in this matter. I will tell him, sir, that 
bound files of New Orleans papers were submitted to the Committee of Elec¬ 
tions, and an examination of their pages will satisfy the gentleman that long 
before the proclamation was issued the people were agitating the question, and 
demanding that the governor should call this election. The Union associations 
considered the subject, and passed resolutions demanding that he should call 
this election. The papers discussed it. Correspondence took place with the 
President of the United States. It was not until a long time had'elapsed,” and 
after a strong pressure had been brought to bear on the military governor, that 
he would order an election. 

Mr. Voorhees. If I was mistaken in the statement which I made,’nothing 
will give me more pleasure than to correct it. I do not pretend that my recol¬ 
lection is as clear as that ■of the gentleman from Louisiana. What I intended 
to have said was this : that I knew of no meeeting—that is the word, which 
will be found reported in the Globe—that I knew of no meeting of citizens with 
a view to an election until after the proclamation of the military governor. That 
this question was agitated and discussed by those who control the press is un¬ 
doubtedly true. If a meeting occurred before this, it escaped my attention. Of 
course I will stand corrected by that superior knowledge of the gentleman from 
Louisiana. I do not wish to make an incorrect statement to prejudice this case, 
for, as I said in my remarks a few days ago, both of the gentlemen from Louis¬ 
iana have so borne themselves,as to entitle them to the greatest consideration 
and respect. 

Mr. Hahn. I am rejoiced, Mr. Speaker, that the gentleman has some¬ 
what modified his statement; but the fact is well' known in Louisiana, and 
known to the citizens of that State now within the hearing of my voice, that 
this proclamation was issued after long consideration and great presure on the 
authorities by the loyal people. 

Mr. Voorhees. Let me inquire of the gentlemen from Louisiana, 
whether a public meeting took place before the proclamation ? 

Mr. Hahn. The Union associations of New Orleans passed resolutions 
and appointed committees on that subject. They called on the military gov¬ 
ernor and demanded an election from him. 

Now, with regard to the military governor. We are told that we must 
have a Governor. Gentlemen have argued as though Thomas O. Moore is still 
our Governor. In the name of the loyal people, then, I protest against 
Thomas O. Moore being the Governor of Louisiana. In the names of those 
citizens incarcerated and driven from their homes and families for the love 
they bore to the flag which ornaments this Hall—in their name I protest 
against the recognition 6f Thomas 0. Moore, as Governor. In the name of 
the soldiers of the United States who were sent from the forts and barracks 
of Louisiana and shipped to the northern States, I protest against his being 
Governor. In the name of the eight thousand loyal citizens who have sent us 
here, I protest against his being considered our Governor. We do not respect 
him as such. The Governor we respect there, call him civil governor, Call him 
military governor, call him governor de facto, call him usurper, if you please, 
the governor we recognize is George F. Shepley. His acts are respected. He 
fills vacancies in judgeship's and other civil offices. And let me say here that 
all of the judges have not become rebels. The judge present at the counting 
of the votes which sent us here, aiid who assisted in making the evidence of 
the returns as required by law, is the same who was judge before sec ession 
took place, and who has never forfeited his allegiance to the United States. It 
is a mistaken opinion to suppose that every officer has turned secessionist. 

Now, Governor Shepley appoints our judges and justices of the peace, and 
all other officers of a civil character whose appointments devolve on the Gov¬ 
ernor. He performs all civil acts; and we care not what kind of Governor he 
be called, he acts there as Governor and we respect him as such. Estates have 


6 


been opened and important wills have been probated uuder his appointments, 
and no exceptions have been taken to these important proceedings in 
Louisiana. 

Mr. Wright. How many loyal men has your district and your col¬ 
league’s district furnished to the army of the United States ? 

Mr. Hahn. I will answer the gentleman from Pennsylvania. When 
General Butler’s army landed in New Orleans, a great many of his regiments 
were diminished in the number of soldiers, and it became necessary to recruit 
them. He filled those regiments up to their full number by enlisting about 
two thousand ; he formed in addition separate regiments, making in all four 
thousand men. In this I do not include the three thousand colored soldiers 
there enlisted. 

Now, sir, having answered the gentleman’s question, in order to go further 
in showing that we recognize Governor Shepley’s acts, I will read a resolution 
which passed unanimously at a large mass meeting of the people of New 
Orleans, held on Saturday, November 16, 1862. It is as follows : 

“ Resolved , that General Shepley, our military governor, in his management of the 
public affairs of this Commonwealth, has shown administrative talents of a high order. 
His measures have been prudent and well considered, and his intercourse with our people 
has gone far towards securing not only a warm regard for him personally, but a confi¬ 
dence in the purposes of the Administration towards ourselves and our fellow-citizens.” 

That there may be no mistake about the character of that meeting, I will 
read another resolution that passed. It is as follows : 

“ Resolved , That our only hope of securing the blessings of freedom to ourselvee and 
our children is in the perpetual union of these States; that, as a great progressive 
nation, we can only advanee surely and safely in the Union; that our nationality de¬ 
pends entirely, for respect abroad and affection at home, upon the Union; and that our 
first and last, our highest and most imperative duty is to preserve this Union in its in¬ 
tegrity. ‘The Union, it must and shall be preserved.’ v 

Those are the sentiments of the people who have elected my colleague and 
myself to this Congress; and those are the sentiments of the people of those 
two congressional districts almost unanimously, and of the men who recognize 
the acts of George F. Shepley as Governer of that State. 

Now, I suppose it is not necessary for me to show you the absolute justice of 
allowing those people to enjoy their rights under the Constitution of the United 
States, if they are to be burdened with the duties, for the distinguished gentle¬ 
man from Massachusetts [Mr. Thomas] yesterday made this matter so clear., 
and presented it in such a legal and logical shape, that I would only be doing, 
damage to his argument by going over the same ground. I will not trouble 
the House with any more of the facts of this case unless gentlemen desire some 
further knowledge upon any particular point. 

Mr. Dunn. I desire to know from the gentleman the number of votes which 
were cast in the district which he claims to represent, and also the number of 
votes which were cast in the district which his colleague claims to represent; 
and I wish to know, further, how those votes compare in number with the 
votes which have previously been cast in the same districts. 

Mr. Hahn. The vote in my district has heretofore been between eight and 
ten thousand. In this election it was 5,11 1. I do not know precisely the vote 
cast in the district of my colleague, but the report of the Committee on Elec¬ 
tions will show that. But this I will say, that the vote received by my col¬ 
league alone is larger than the vote received by the gentleman who last held 
a seat upon this floor from his district. 

Now, sir, a great many people of the State of Louisiana, particularly of our 
part of the State, were taken off in various ways, so that the number' of citi¬ 
zens was considerably diminished. Many men had been taken away forcibly 
into the confederate army, but they are rapidly returning to the city of New 
Orleans by all the byways they can search out A great many citizens who did 


7 

not wish to stay there, subject to the insults of the rebel leaders, had gone North. 
Four thousand men joined the Union Army, and they did not participate in 
this election. When you duly weigh and consider all these facts, you cannot 
but conclude that the vote given on the 3d of December last was a fair and even 
a large vote. 

Mr. Speaker, good men throughout the length and breadth of the land are 
anxious to see Louisiana again represented on this floor. 

Mr. Crisfield. I desire to ask the gentleman one question. He says that 
four thousand of these men from the two districts enlisted in the Federal Army. 
Can the gentleman state, or has he the means of knowing, how many of these 
were qualified electors in those two districts ? 

Mr. Hahn. Of course it would be impossible to determine the exact number; 
but even if we should take half of them as not being qualified electors—a lib¬ 
eral allowance—it would go to show that at least two thousand votes were 
wanting at the polls on the 3d of December because they had enrolled them¬ 
selves in the Union Army. 

Mr. Harrison. It has been repeatedly urged during this debate that the 
electors of the first and second congressional districts of Louisiana were actu¬ 
ated, in the holding of the elections whose validity the House is considering, by 
the sole purpose of ehdeavoring thereby to save their slave property from the 
effects of the then contemplated “ emancipation proclamation ” of the Presi¬ 
dent, and that they were not moved by a real, sincere desire to be represented, 
in good faith, in the Congress of the United States. The gentleman has per¬ 
sonal knowledge of the facts, and he will oblige the House by removing all 
just ground for controversy or doubt upon this point in the cases by stating, in 
direct terms, the actual truth in regard to it. 

Mr. Hahn. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Thomas] 
has already saved me that trouble; but for fear he might not have been heard 
by other members of this House, I will refer you to the President’s proclama¬ 
tion^ the 22d of September last, in which he does not promise any congres¬ 
sional districts of the southern States to exempt them from the order of eman¬ 
cipation, unless a majority of the whole State would cast its vote for members . 
of Congress. The language of the Executive is that he will, on the 1st day of, 
January, 1863— 

“Designate these States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof re¬ 
spectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any 
State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress 
of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the 
qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong 
countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people : 
thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.” 

It is true that in the same proclamation the President reserves, tov himself the 
ri^ht, if he chooses, thereafter to exempt particular districts. But the promise 
which he held out was, if a majority of a whole State would show their loy¬ 
alty and return members of Congress, then he would exempt the State. So 
far as the majority votes of districts are concerned, he made no positive promise 
upon the subject; and the citizens of Louisiana, as intelligent men, could not 
calculate upon it in the manner proclaimed on this floor. Without entering 
into a constitutional controversy here I will say that the people of Louisiana 
do not stand in this Union upon any selfish platform attributed to them by 
some. They stand by this Union, because they think it is the most perfect 
and the most liberal system of government that the wit of man ever devised; 
and they are willing—to-day they are willing—to make any sacrifice in the 
world, consistent with freemen, to remain a part of this Union. 

I was about to state before I was interrupted by my friend [Mr. Harrison] 
that the people of the whole country would rejoice to see Louisiana again re¬ 
presented upon this floor, and doing her proper and constitutional share in 
every part and place in the Government where work is to be done, views given, 


or good words spoken in behalf of the salvation of the Union. Sir, great ad¬ 
vantages must necessarily accrue to the Union cause by the admission of mem¬ 
bers from those States which have been in rebellion. True-hearted American 
citizens everywhere, whether at home or abroad, will derive new courage, and 
be inspired by fresh hopes, at the knowledge of the fact that now again, as in 
the good old times of peace, the far South, the mouth of the Mississippi, sends 
her Representatives here to unite with those from Maine and California and 
Minnesota in brotherly and patriotic consultation for the happiness and glory 
of our common country. And the very admission of such members will do 
more than anything else to crush out and extinguish the wicked expectations 
of foreign Governments in regard to the fate of this Republic. . 

And even, sir, within the limits of the dreary and desolated region of the 
rebellion itself, despair, which has already taken hold of the people, will gain 
additional power and strength at the reception of the news that Louisiana sends 
a message of peace, good will, and hearty fellowship to the Union. This in¬ 
telligence will sound more joyfully to patriot ears than all the oft-repeated t tid¬ 
ings of “ Union victories.” And of all victories, this \v ill be the mpst glorious, 
useful, and solid, for it speaks of reorganization , soon to 'become the great and 
difficult problem with which our statesmen will have to familiarize themselves. 
And when this shall have been commenced we will be able to realize that God, 
in His infinite mercy, has looked down upon our misfortunes, and in a spirit of 
paternal love and pity has addressed us in the language ascribed to Him by 
our own gifted Longfellow : 

“ I am weary of your quarrels, 

Weary of your wars and bloodshed, 

Weary of your prayers for vengeance. 

Of your wranglings and dissensions. 

All your strength is in your union, 

All your danger is in discord, 

Therefore be at peace henceforward, 

And as brothers live together.* * 

Mr. Speaker, Louisiana—ever loyal, honorable Louisiana-—seeks no greater 
blessing in the future than to remain a part of this great and glorious Union. 
She has stood by you in the darkest hours of this rebellion ; and she intends 
ever to stand by you. Sir, raise your eyes to the gorgeous ceilings which or¬ 
nament this Hall, and look upon her fair and lovely escutcheon. Carefully 
read the patriotic words which surround her affectionate, pelican family, and 
you will find there inscribed “ Justice, Union, Confidence.” Those words with 
us have no idle meaning; and would to God that other members of thisUnion 
could properly appreciate our motto, our motives, and our position! 

Reject the Representatives of Louisiana to-day, disfranchise her, withhold 
her dearest and most cherished right as a Stale under the Constitution ; but if 
you do that- let not that lovely escutcheon look down upon you with solemn 
mockery, but remove it from your sight, and tear from yonder glorious emblem 
of our country’s greatness our bright and shining star. 

Mr. Speaker, instead of diminishing those stars in number, and instead of 
curtailing the fair proportions of this Union, we in Louisiana are in favor of 
adding to the number and brilliancy of those stars and of standing by and 
maintaining this Union, under all circumstances, in its integrity, so that all 
American citizens can proudly and truthfully proclaim in the poetic language 
of Byron: < 

“Far as the eye can reach, the billows roam; 

Survey our empire, and behold our home. 

These are our realms, no limit to their sway; 

Our flag, the sceptre all who meet obey.” 

[Suppressed applause.] 


L. Towers & Co.. Printers. 

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